11 Key Questions to Ask any Provider before You Buy

ActivEngage, the automotive industry's premier provider of proactive live chat with business intelligence for dealer websites, today announced the release of the Live Chat Buyers' Guide, a new eBook for automotive dealers.  Eleven Key Questions to Ask any Live Chat Provider before You Buy helps educate dealers about the most critical requirements for live chat success and details the questions dealers should discuss with any chat vendor.  As consumers increasingly use and expect live chat on dealership websites, and more options become available, it is more important than ever for dealers to make the best decision for their dealership needs.     

The new eBook guides dealers through the discussion they need to have with chat vendors to ensure success and addresses the best in class technology, service and support capabilities that chat vendors should offer dealerships.  The main focus of the Buyers' Guide helps dealers determine whether a chat vendor merely offers IM technology, or a true chat application with business intelligence.  Business intelligence enables the most effective live chat because it allows dealers to leverage knowledge about the customer's behavior, before they engage them in conversation, and it facilitates a high level of personalization that IM technology does not allow.  This is key for increased website lead generation.  Other questions are designed to help dealers assess how much experience chat vendors have with meeting the unique needs of dealerships, another important determinant of success.  The questions also allow dealers to gauge how progressive providers' technical capabilities are and how adept vendors are at integrating chat with other communication channels, in addition to the dealership website.   

"Increasingly, dealers now realize the benefits that live chat can offer to enhance customer service and qualified lead generation at the dealership website," commented Todd Smith, ActivEngage co-founder.  "We created the eBook Buyers' Guide to help all dealers make the most well-informed purchase decision, based on their particular dealership needs.  Effective live chat is not about putting a "click-to-chat" button the website and it's not just about the technology.  The best vendors will also offer dealers the business intelligence and services that can easily double or triple website leads when used properly.  Live chat is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to increase first-party leads, and that is more important than ever today."    

Download the Live Chat Buyers' Guide at: www.activengage.com/DealerLiveChatBuyersGuide.shtml

About ActivEngage: (www.ActivEngage.com)

ActivEngage’s proprietary business intelligence helps automotive dealers meet the needs of shoppers by providing dealerships easy to use, powerful website tools.  Advanced live chat services let dealers identify, initiate interaction and communicate with website visitors in real-time.  The essential person-to-person Meet & Greet that dealers require at the physical showroom is now possible on the dealership website through ActivEngage.  This proactive website engagement decreases abandonment rates and increases website lead generation with the thousands of visitors the average dealership receives each month.  ActivEngage provides the edge that dealerships need to engage more customers who browse for information because it starts building a personal relationship with shoppers from the moment they hit the dealership website.  ActivEngage offers three tiers of service to ensure that all website visitors' experiences are enjoyable and uncomplicated, thereby increasing the value of dealership websites through better lead generation.

With a simple push of a button, VinSolutions customers, who subscribe to the service, can access R.L. Polk & Co.’s monthly Polk Cross Sell™ reports directly from their VinSolutions system. VinSolutions offers two levels of participation. Customers may opt to receive both new and used vehicle reports, or select only new or only used reports.

Overland Park, KS, June 9, 2009 – VinSolutions announced their integration with R.L. Polk & Co.’s Polk Cross Sell™ today. Subscribing customers desiring access to the Polk Cross Sell™ report can simply push a button on their system and view it. Available at two levels of participation, VinSolutions’ customers may opt to receive both new and used vehicle reports, or choose between new or used reports.

The Polk Cross Sell™ report is delivered each month and summarizes what dealers need to know so they can more quickly identify and seize sales opportunities. Built from multiple sources including vehicle population and statistical data from all 50 states, Polk Cross Sell™ reports offer dealers a clearer view of the marketplace and their place in it.

“The Polk Cross Sell™ is a vital tool for dealers, and accessing it directly through our software makes managers’ lives a lot easier,” said Doug Kinney, VinSolutions’ CEO. “We are constantly looking for value added products to offer our customers, and we are very pleased to add the Polk Cross Sell™ reports to our offerings.”

R. L. Polk & Co.’s core purpose of helping people make good decisions is evident in the quality and reliability of their products. “We are excited to work with VinSolutions to help automobile dealers sell more vehicles,” said Andrew Price, Polk’s vice president of Automotive Retail Solutions. “The Internet has proven to be an important sales tool, and our relationship with VinSolutions will help dealers be even more productive and efficient with their use of technology.”

Using Polk Cross Sell™ reports enable dealers to manage from solid data. Being able to better plan their inventory levels and take advantage of market conditions, pinpointing areas where their sales are strong and identifying areas in need of focused attention are reason enough to make Polk Cross Sell™ reports a part of a dealer’s daily management regime.

ABOUT VINSOLUTIONS (http://www.vinsolutions.com)
An industry-leading developer of Internet-based desking, customer relations management (CRM) and Internet lead management (ILM) software, VinSolutions provides 24/7 dealership sales and
marketing information to their clients anywhere Internet access is available. In addition to CRM, ILM and Inventory control products, VinSolutions builds custom dealership Web sites, uploads inventory photos, offers their clients quality training and consulting services, as well as valuable customer support. VinSolutions is GM, Ford, Chrysler, Subaru and Audi certified and has working relationships, alliances and integrations with several automotive software service providers such as R. L. Polk & Co., Kelley Blue Book, CarFax, AutoSoft, Inc., Autodata, RouteOne and DealerTrack.

ABOUT R. L. POLK & CO.
R. L. Polk & Co. is the premier provider of automotive information and marketing solutions. Polk collects and interprets global data, and provides extensive automotive business expertise to help customers understand their market position, identify trends, build brand loyalty, conquest new business and gain a competitive advantage. Polk helps automotive manufacturers and dealers, automotive aftermarket companies, finance and insurance companies, advertising agencies, media companies, consulting organizations, government agencies and market research firms make good business decisions. A privately held global firm, Polk is based in Southfield, Mich. with operations in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In National Survey, Dealers Say Consumers Are Postponing Purchases Until Bill Is Passed

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The nation's auto dealers, pummeled by auto sales that are the lowest in 17 years, are optimistic that the "Cash for Clunkers" bill now moving through Congress will positively impact U.S. auto sales. However, dealers are also concerned that sales are being frozen while the bill is being debated because consumers are waiting for vouchers to become available for trade-ins before purchasing a new car.

These are the results of a national survey of U.S. auto dealers conducted this week by Dealix, a division of Cobalt, and the leading provider of new car and used car automotive sales leads for dealers and OEMs. The Senate is poised to consider a version of the bill, which will provide consumers credits of up to $4,500 if they trade in cars with low mileage per gallon for more fuel efficient vehicles.

Dealix, which counts most of the nation's auto dealers as customers, sent the survey to general managers, dealer principals, Internet managers, and other sales professionals at the majority of the nation's roughly 20,000 franchised dealerships. In their responses to the survey, dealers expressed strong hopes for the legislation:

• Over 85% said the legislation would stimulate car purchases to some degree, with over 26% of that group saying it would increase purchases "a lot."
• And, almost 60% believe the program will help the environment.

While optimistic about the impact, dealers are also concerned that, in the short-term, anticipation of the bill is decreasing sales. Nearly 60% of dealers responding indicated that some or a lot of consumers are delaying their purchases until the bill is passed.

Dealers are watching the legislative process closely, with 84% of respondents reporting a familiarity with the proposal. These dealers also had strong opinions about some of the most hotly contested elements of the competing Senate and House bills:

• More than 6 out of 10 responding dealers believe the program should apply to the purchase of a used car; not solely to new car purchases.
• The majority - over 70% - do not believe vouchers should be applied retroactively to purchases made before the bill is passed.

Dealers are anticipating that they will play a role in educating customers about the specifics of the bill. Nearly 70% are planning marketing campaigns to explain that vouchers are available and how they will be used.

"Consumers will need help from dealers to understand how to use the Cash for Clunkers program, and they'll also turn to independent sources to research their car choices," said Anna Zornosa, general manager of Dealix. "During 2008, as consumers responded to increases in gas prices by considering new fuel efficient vehicles, they turned to the Internet for help in significant numbers. We expect independent Internet research sites to play this same vital role as consumers take advantage of the vouchers."

Dealix is focused on providing dealers with the tools needed to get the most from the new program. The company has created a blog, CashforClunkers.org, which has chronicled events in the life of the legislation since early this year. Dealix will also distribute summaries of the bill and produce seminars for dealers on the details of the legislation. Dealers who want more information on the survey or the bill itself or who want to register for an upcoming webinar on the topic are encouraged to send an email with their contact information to webinars@dealix.com.

About Dealix

Dealix, a division of Cobalt, is the world's leading provider of quality leads for new and used cars for dealerships, dealer groups, and automotive manufacturers. Dealix has the broadest reach and the highest quality lead supply network in the industry, including Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds.com, Yahoo! Autos, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, and others. Dealix also represents Edmunds' Premier Dealer Program and powers AOL Autos' and MSN Autos' price quote platforms. Dealix connects dealers with the millions of car shoppers who prefer independent Internet sites when shopping for new cars and used cars online. Dealix's all new Lead Platform quickly matches thousands of serious new and used vehicle buyers to the most appropriate dealers daily, delivering a quality car buying experience for consumers and providing dealers with one of the most efficient methods available today for marketing and selling cars.

About Cobalt

Cobalt is North America's leading provider of digital marketing services for the automotive industry. For over fourteen years, Cobalt's mission has been to help automobile dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and profitability. Cobalt provides marketing services to half of the automotive dealerships in the United States, as well as automotive dealers in Canada and Mexico. Cobalt's marketing services are endorsed by approximately two-thirds of the world's major automotive manufacturers.

    Contact:

    Amy Hatch
    Cobalt
    (206) 579-7243
    ahatch@cobalt.com

SEATTLE, June 2, 2009 — Cobalt (www.cobalt.com), the leading provider of digital marketing services for the automotive industry, today announced the launch of its second-generation mobile web interface optimized specifically for the in-market automotive shopper. The design focuses on what a consumer is doing and where, encouraging active in-market shoppers to call the dealership or access point-to-point directions. In fact, Cobalt Mobile users are nearly three times more likely to click-through to an Hours and Directions page than Internet shoppers using a standard dealer website. As a result, Cobalt Mobile steers shoppers in the final stages of their shopping process to nearby dealerships.

While some dealer website providers simply shrink a dealer’s standard website to fit a smaller screen, Cobalt Mobile was designed as a native mobile interface. Leveraging industry research and best practices, Cobalt Mobile is focused on the conversion of shoppers to sales through clear, one-click calls-to-action: easy-to-browse inventory, one-click-to-call and point-to-point directions. Cobalt created its mobile solution to be a powerful tool for the multi-tasking mobile consumer.

“We have had great success with Cobalt Mobile. Cobalt Mobile puts the most important calls to action upfront for the shopper,” said James Quinn, Internet Manager at Les Stanford Chevrolet-Cadillac in Dearborn, MI. “This is definitely the future of mobile websites. I am excited to see what it does for our business platform!”

Cobalt Mobile is a seamless extension of a dealer’s Cobalt website. Dealers can now offer an easy-to-use mobile experience with no additional effort on the dealer’s part.

The Benefits of Cobalt Mobile

• Cobalt Mobile websites focus on a mobile consumer’s goals: browse live inventory, locate a dealership or contact dealer sales & service
• Inventory presentation is optimized for mobile devices; search results and inventory listings are simple to scroll through, and it's a one-touch click into a vehicle's photos and details
• Dealer inventory, pricing and specials are updated in real-time
• Fast loading, easy to navigate, point and click interface requires absolutely no typing
• Best-of-breed mapping capabilities:
  • Leverages the power of Google^® maps for mobile devices
  • Point-to-point directions with no typing
• Same URL for both traditional and mobile access
• Offers dealers an onsite tool for quickly accessing inventory on their car lot
  

“Cobalt invested heavily in industry research and design to create a best-in-breed mobile website solution that offers consumers a seamless website experience” said Paul Nagy, Cobalt’s Vice President of Core Products. “With Cobalt Mobile our dealer customers will be well positioned to exploit the explosive growth of mobile computing and serve the car shoppers that depend upon it.”

“We know that Infiniti customers are very tech savvy and active on the Internet. Our Cobalt Mobile website is clear cut; it drills right down to what the customer wants, making it easier for consumers to find what they are looking for and contact us from their mobile devices,” said George Grubbs III, Executive Manager of Grubbs Infiniti, a Dallas/Ft. Worth dealer. “I also have sales staff using the new Cobalt Mobile website as a portable inventory sales tool. It allows them to access inventory very easily from anywhere.”

Over the last year, the usage of mobile devices doubled (comScore, 2009) and mobile Internet browsing is expected to increase ten times over the next five years (ABI Research/Elektronista, 2008). Given the growing importance of mobile internet, it is imperative that dealers provide their online shoppers with inventory, specials and contact information that are optimized for display on mobile devices, enabling the consumer to easily shop from the dealer’s website at any time.

To learn more about Cobalt Mobile please call 800-909-8244 or visit www.cobalt.com/mobile

About Cobalt

Cobalt is North America's leading provider of digital marketing services for the automotive industry. For over fourteen years, Cobalt's mission has been to help automobile dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and profitability. Cobalt provides marketing services to half of the automotive dealerships in the United States, as well as automotive dealers in Canada and Mexico. Cobalt’s marketing services are endorsed by approximately two-thirds of the world's major automotive manufacturers.

Media Contact:

Amy Hatch

Marketing Manager

Cobalt

206-219-8132

ahatch@cobalt.com

LEVITTOWN, New York – (April 14, 2009) - Parayil & Mann Dealer Services Inc. (PMDS), a leading retail automotive consulting and technology provider, today announced the release of TrueCall Plus, an advanced customer call capture solution for DealerUps CRM users.  TrueCall Plus is an enhanced version of TrueCall, the company’s popular suite of customer call capture tools that improve phone lead performance, increases sales force productivity and help dealers measure the success of their advertising campaigns. New TrueCall Plus features include mobile phone integration, pre-recorded message blasts, and click-to-call functionality. TrueCall Plus is available both as an add-on module for DealerUps, PMDS’ state-of-the-art CRM system, and as a standalone solution.

“TrueCall Plus is a complete turnkey call recording and tracking solution that allows dealers to manage calls from any telephone, wireless or cellular device,” said Stanley Parayil Thomas, chief executive officer of PMDS.  “It gives sales representatives total control over phone leads wherever they’re at – in the office, on the lot or working from home.” 

TrueCall Plus uses advanced call capture technology to track and record detailed information on all inbound and outbound customer calls.  With TrueCall Plus, dealers can create audio recordings of each outbound call, which can be used to monitor salesperson performance and improve results. TrueCall Plus also comes with a built in auto dialer so that users never have to log out of the system to make a call.  Dealers can generate over 200 detailed reports to monitor and measure results on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

New features of the fully upgraded application include:

Mobile Phone Integration – Allows salespeople to manage their tasks and calls from any wireless or cellular device.  Every action is automatically recorded and logged in the dealer’s CRM as part of the customer’s record.

Personal Message Blasts – Automatically sends pre-recorded calls to user defined prospect and customer databases of up to 10,000 people.  Multiple messages can be stored for repeat use in a digital library.  Includes special text-to-voice application to create messages. 

Instant Phone Connect – Lets customers request an immediate call back from the dealership with one click on the dealer’s Web site, or through a code embedded in a lead form.  Automatically connects hot sales and service prospects to the dealership by phone within 10 seconds. 

TrueCall Plus is easy to install, with no additional hardware required.  All inbound and outbound call data is logged in real time directly into the dealership’s CRM and customer’s record.  TrueCall and TrueCall Plus are built on InteractiveTel’s telephony platform.  InteractiveTel is a leading provider of interactive telecommunications solutions.

PMDS recently acquired DealerUps from JM Dealer Services, Inc., a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises, Inc.  DealerUps is a state-of-the-art CRM system that enables automotive dealers to effectively manage and market to current and prospective customers from one database. Tracked and reported in real time is information such as Internet leads, sales, service, walk-ins, and incoming telephone calls.

About Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc.

Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc. (PMDS) is a privately held automotive consulting and technology company specializing in the optimization of dealership processes and customer relationship management (CRM). PMDS is lead by industry experts with more than four decades of extensive automotive retail experience. The company has headquarters in Long Island, New York and regional offices in Dallas, Texas.

LONG ISLAND, NY (March 26, 2009) - Parayil & Mann Dealer Services Inc. (PMDS), a privately held automotive technology services company, today announced its purchase of the DealerUps (www.dealerups.com) customer relationship management (CRM) business from JM Dealer Services, Inc., a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises, Inc.

DealerUps is a state-of-the-art CRM system that enables automotive dealers to effectively manage and market to current and prospective customers from one database. Tracked and reported in real time is information such as Internet leads, sales, service, walk-ins, and incoming telephone calls.

"Now more than ever dealers need to build long-term relationships with their customers," said Guy Manasse, president of PMDS. "DealerUps provides a completely dynamic solution to retain and utilize valuable information that will boost fixed operation revenue and offset the decline in new vehicle sales."

As the majority of the DealerUps support team will transition and remain with PMDS, customers will benefit from a seamless continuity of service.

"We are eager to add DealerUps as our flagship product," said Stanley Parayil Thomas, CEO of PMDS. "Our team is honored to continue the innovation of this industry leading application and meet the future needs of our dealers."

About Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc.

Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc. is a privately held automotive technology company specializing in the optimization of dealership processes and customer relationship management (CRM). PMDS is lead by industry experts with more than four decades of extensive automotive retail experience. The company has headquarters in Long Island, New York and regional offices in Dallas, Texas.

About JM Family Enterprises, Inc.

JM Family Enterprises, Inc. (JM Family) (www.jmfamily.com) is a diversified automotive company ranked by Forbes as the 23rd-largest privately held company in the U.S. It is currently ranked No. 33 by FORTUNE as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, its 11th consecutive year on the list. The company is also ranked No. 7 on Computerworld`s list of "100 Best Places to Work in IT." Primary subsidiaries and divisions include: Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC, World Omni Financial Corp., JM&A Group, JM Service Center LLC, and JM Lexus. Headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Fla., JM Family has major operations in Jacksonville and Margate, Fla.; Commerce and Alpharetta, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; and St. Louis, Mo.

CEO and Co-Founder Jonathan Ord also named as finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Orange County/Desert Cities

San Clemente, CA – May 20, 2009 – Leading automotive CRM provider DealerSocket, today announced that it has been selected as a winner of the Red Herring 100 North America Award. The Red Herring editorial team deploys a detailed process to whittle down a pool of 1,000 eligible, promising companies to the 200 Finalists and in a last round decided for the top 100 winners of this important North American award. Evaluations are made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy, and ecosystem integration.

In addition, DealerSocket has been selected as a finalist in five categories of the 2009 American Business Awards: Best Overall Company, Sales Department of the Year, Support Department of the Year, Best Management Team, and Executive of the Year – Computer Software. DealerSocket is also proud to announce that Jonathan Ord, CEO and Co-Founder, will be honored as a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Orange County/Desert Cities.

“To continue to have our company recognized for excellence and achievement within the greater business community is incredible.” said Jonathan Ord, DealerSocket Co-Founder and CEO. “Winning an award from Red Herring is a great honor. To combine that amazing achievement with being named a finalist for not one, but five American Business Awards is unbelievable. It is great to be one of the positive stories in the auto industry and that people are continuing to acknowledge our hard work and the consistent execution of our automotive CRM solution. I extend our sincere gratitude to Red Herring, The American Business Awards and Ernst & Young for their recognition.”

Winners of the 2009 American Business Awards will be announced on June 22, 2009 in New York City. Winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year will be announced June 11, 2009 in Irvine, California. Winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Orange County/Desert Cities will move on to compete for the national award.

DrivingSales now has an open blog for professionals and companies to share auto industry press releases that they feel are important.  If you would like to have your press releases published, please contact us and we will walk you through the simple process to publish.

The objective of our blog community is to provide a platform and to amplify the voice of industry professionals in sharing best practices, opinions and thoughts to make our industry better.  Our membership has grown and our readership now reaches tens of thousands of people per month.  Naturally, DrivingSales has become an attractive place for industry announcements. Since we do not want these industry releases confused with the best practice content provided by our community, we created an entirely separate blog to house these releases.

The Rules (this should be obvoius):

We ask that each company post no more than two releases per month to keep the quality high.  Nobody wants to see any one company blast the network with a bunch of irrelevant and useless content.  If you would like us to host a best practice blog for you, please contact us, we encourage thought leaders to publish educational content in their blogs as often as they like.

Getting Started

If you wish to have access to publish your releases,  simply email us at contactus(at)drivingsales.com, we will give your account the proper credentials to publish releases as you have them. 
We hope this blog can be a resource for the community to monitor industry happenings from a press release perspective.  If you are looking advertise your products and services, our team will be happy to discuss other options for that.  This blog is for press releases, not advertisements.

As always, we will listen to you, the DrivingSales community, for guidance and direction.  Ultimately you will decide how this resource grows.